"in-between 70 and 100% of public transport services running. It is said talks could last for a month. Several additional strikes were also planned. Among them are: Telecommunications workers and bankers have also scheduled strikes. November 2007 strikes in France The 2007 strikes in France were a series of general strikes, mostly in the public sector, which started on 13 November 2007. The strike was over President Nicolas Sarkozy's and Prime Minister François Fillon's attempt to reduce early retirement benefits for 500,000 public employees. Sarkozy had stated that pension reform is the first in a series of measures designed to"
"2007 French presidential election The 2007 French presidential election, the ninth of the Fifth French Republic was held to elect the successor to Jacques Chirac as president of France (and ""ex officio"" Co-Prince of Andorra) for a five-year term. The winner, decided on 5 and 6 May 2007, was Nicolas Sarkozy. The first round of voting took place on Saturday 21 April 2007 (French territories in the Americas and the Eastern Pacific) and Sunday, 22 April 2007 (French territories in the Western Pacific, Indian Ocean, and Metropolitan France). As no candidate obtained a majority (50 percent plus one), a second"
"the environment and to immigration and national identity. He also announced a complete reform of the health system, and various measures concerning culture. On 6 May 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy was elected President of the Republic of France at the second round of the presidential elections, with 53,06% of the votes. Few days later, on 18 May, he appointed François Fillon as Prime Minister. The first government comprised 15 ministers, 4 secretaries and one high commissary, but this government was to be transitional, because legislative elections were to be led. On 17 June, the UMP obtained the majority in the second"
"Presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy The presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy began on 16 May 2007 when Nicolas Sarkozy became the sixth President of the French Fifth Republic, following his victory in the 2007 presidential election. A candidate of the conservative Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), he nominated François Fillon as Prime minister, who formed a composite government, a bit modified following the UMP's relative victory during the June legislative election. Although the UMP had not obtained a majority as large as expected, Nicolas Sarkozy could launch the reforms he had pledged as a candidate as soon as he was elected."
"presidency of the UMP on 14 May 2007, two days before becoming President of the French Republic. François Fillon was appointed Prime Minister. On 17 June 2007, at a 2007 legislative election, the UMP gained a majority in the National Assembly with 313 out of 577 seats. Following Sarkozy's election to the presidency, interim leader Jean-Claude Gaudin prevented a leadership struggle between Patrick Devedjian and Jean-Pierre Raffarin by announcing that the UMP should have a collegial leadership while Sarkozy was President of the Republic. In July, the UMP's national council approved an amendment to the party's statute allowing for a"
"rejection of the treaty. Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin was quickly replaced by Dominique de Villepin. UMP leader Nicolas Sarkozy returned to cabinet as Minister of the Interior. Although this rejection and the similar vote in the Dutch referendum seriously damaged the Constitution, subsequent EU Presidency holders have vowed to keep it going. Sarkozy was elected President of the French Republic in May 2007. Amongst his pledges was a re-negotiation and ratification of a mini-treaty without a referendum. Eventually, the new version of the text, the Lisbon Treaty, was voted by the Parliament. On the internal political scene, the success of"
"in the French social movement. It remains to be seen how much of these reforms will now be enacted by Sarkozy's first government, as Sarkozy was elected President on a similar platform in May 2007. During his first two years in office, President Jacques Chirac's prime minister was Alain Juppé, who served contemporaneously as leader of Chirac's neo-Gaullist Rally for the Republic (RPR). Chirac and Juppé benefited from a very large, if rather unruly, majority in the National Assembly (470 out of 577 seats). Mindful that the government might have to take politically costly decisions in advance of the legislative"
"On 22 April he topped the ballot in the first round of voting in the presidential election, and on 6 May he defeated the incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy in the second round run-off, becoming the new President of France. As the First Secretary of the Socialist Party François Hollande first openly considered running for the 2007 presidential election. Capitalizing on her popularity Ségolène Royal, his partner of 30 years and the mother of their four children was to take him the nomination. They had separated in 2006 and announced it publicly after the 2007 election. Following Ségolène Royal's loss in the"
"European Union stimulus plan, to limit social discontentment. As he had promised to reach full-employment and to boost the economic growth, he faced growing protest. In the 2012 presidential elections, Sarkozy was defeated by Socialist François Hollande by a margin of 3.2%. Nicolas Sarkozy was elected president on 6 May 2007, but the official transmission of power took place ten days after. In this period of time, he could not exercise his power nor begin appointing a government. Between 7 and 9 May, he left on holidays with his family off Malta on board a yacht lent by a friend"
"Dominique de Villepin Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin (; born 14 November 1953) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007 under President Jacques Chirac. A career working at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, De Villepin rose through the ranks of the French right as one of Chirac's protégés. He came into the international spotlight as Minister of Foreign Affairs with his opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, one year after his appointment to the office, which culminated with a speech to the United Nations. Before"
"presidential candidate on 14 January 2007. On 12 March 2007 Villepin formally endorsed Sarkozy for President. On 15 May 2007, the last full day of President Jacques Chirac's term, Villepin tendered his resignation from the office of Prime Minister and it was accepted by the President. He was replaced two days later by François Fillon. Villepin has never held elected office; the French Constitution allows the president to appoint unelected ministers. This is a political liability for him, because he is periodically accused of being out of touch with the realities of ordinary citizens. He is also reported to despise"
"was sworn in on 1 March in a ceremony at which Conté was not present. In an interview with Agence France-Presse and TV5 on 14 June 2007, Conté asserted that he was still in charge of the country (""I'm the boss, others are my subordinates""), rejected the possibility of a transition, and said that his appointment of a prime minister was not due to pressure and that he was pleased with Kouyaté's performance. On 5 December 2007, a decree restructuring ministries increased the powers of the Secretary-General of the Presidency at the expense of those of the Prime Minister, and"
"the newly elected president Nicolas Sarkozy. The MoDem won 7.6% of the votes in the first round of the June 2007 legislative election. Candidates ran under the UDF-MoDem banner, since the party had not yet been created officially. The party gained three seats in the National Assembly of France (not including Abdoulatifou Aly who was elected in Mayotte for a party affiliated to the MoDem. He sat with the New Centre for a short while but he is now sitting with the MoDem deputies). Thierry Benoit, one of the four MPs, has been vocally critical of the party, but he"
"that he himself would not enter the 2007 presidential contest. However, Nicolas Sarkozy was chosen to represent the centre-right UMP party. On 29 May 2005, French voters in the referendum on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe turned down the proposed document by a wide margin. Two days later, Raffarin resigned and Chirac appointed Villepin as Prime Minister of France. In an address to the nation, Chirac had declared that the new cabinet's top priority would be to curb unemployment, which was consistently hovering above 10%, calling for a ""national mobilization"" to that effect. Villepin's cabinet was marked by"
"François Fillon François Charles Armand Fillon (; born 4 March 1954) is a retired French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 2007 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy. He was the nominee of the Republicans (previously known as the Union for a Popular Movement), the country's largest centre-right political party, for the 2017 presidential election. Fillon became Jean-Pierre Raffarin's Minister of Labour in 2002 and undertook controversial reforms of the 35-hour working week law and of the French retirement system. In 2004, as Minister of National Education he proposed the much debated Fillon law on Education. In"
"a master of Advanced Studies (""diplôme d'études approfondies"") in public law from Paris Descartes University. National Assembly of France Senate of France Regional Council General Council Municipal Council Community of communes Council The day after Nicolas Sarkozy became President he appointed Fillon as Prime Minister of France, charging him with the task of forming a new cabinet, which was announced on 18 May 2007. By appointing as Secretary of State André Santini, who had been indicted in the ""Fondation Hamon"" affair on charges of corruption, Fillon made the first break since 1992 with the so-called ""Balladur jurisprudence"", according to which"
"on 11 March 2007, Jacques Chirac announced, in a widely predicted move, that he would not choose to seek a third term as France's president. (In 2000 the constitution had been amended to reduce the length of Presidents' terms to five years, so Chirac's second term was shorter than his first.) ""My whole life has been committed to serving France, and serving peace"", Chirac said, adding that he would find new ways to serve France after leaving office. He did not explain the reasons for his decision. Chirac did not, during the broadcast, endorse any of the candidates running for"
"strikes. He was elected as Mayor of Évreux in 2001, serving in that post until 2007. He was leader of the RPR group in the National Assembly from 1997 to 2002 and then President of the National Assembly from 2002 to 2007. Faithful to President Chirac, he frequently criticized UMP leader Nicolas Sarkozy. He resigned as President of the National Assembly three months before the end of his tenure after he was appointed as President of the Constitutional Council by Chirac on 22 February 2007. He replaced Pierre Mazeaud in the latter position, and was replaced by Laurent Fabius in"
"Presidency of François Hollande The presidency of François Hollande began on 15 May 2012 when the Constitutional Council announced the official results from the presidential election during his inauguration and ended on 14 May 2017 when Emmanuel Macron was officially inaugurated as the 25th President of France. Hollande served alongside Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault until 2014 then Manuel Valls until 2016 and finally Bernard Cazeneuve. Hollande's presidency was dominated by the rising unemployment rate, the protests against reforms of the Labor code including the El Khomri law and the fight against Islamic Terrorism, mainly against the ISIS. François Hollande declared"
"President of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) group in the National Assembly of France from 2004 to 2007. In 2007, he was selected as the candidate of the UMP group, which has the absolute majority, for the presidency of the National Assembly. He became the President of the National Assembly on 26 June 2007. Despite the unwritten tradition that the President of the National Assembly abstains from taking part in votes, Accoyer voted in favor of a bill providing for major constitutional changes on 21 July 2008; because the bill passed by only a one-vote margin, his vote"
"two leaders parodied as an enamored couple. Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician serving as President of France since 2017. He previously was Minister of the Economy, Industry and Digital Affairs from 2014 to 2016. Macron was born in Amiens and studied philosophy at Paris Nanterre University, completed a Master's of Public Affairs at Sciences Po and graduated from the École nationale d'administration (ENA) in 2004. He worked as a senior civil servant at the Inspectorate General of Finances and later became an investment banker at Rothschild & Cie Banque. Macron"
"leader of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) party from 2004 to 2007. He won the French presidential election, 2007 by a 53.1% to 46.9% margin to Socialist Ségolène Royal. During his term, he faced the late-2000s financial crisis (causing a recession and the European sovereign debt crisis) and the Arab Spring (especially in Tunisia, Libya, and Syria). He initiated the reform of French universities (2007) and the pension reform (2010). He married Italian-French singer-songwriter Carla Bruni in 2008 at the Élysée Palace in Paris. In the 2012 election, François Hollande, candidate of the Socialist Party, defeated Sarkozy by"
"proto-canon of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome. The current President of France is Emmanuel Macron, who succeeded François Hollande on 14 May 2017. The presidency of France was first publicly proposed during the July Revolution of 1830, when it was offered to the Marquis de Lafayette, who demurred in favor of Prince Louis Phillipe. 18 years later, during the opening phases of the 2nd Republic, the title was created for a popularly elected Head of state, the first of whom was Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, nephew of the Emperor. Bonaparte served until he staged an auto coup against the"
"the unemployment rate was at 8.4%, the lowest recorded score since June 1983. He finished his term on 15 May 2007 at the end of Jacques Chirac's five-year term. The handover of power to Jean-Louis Borloo, named as Minister of the Economy by the newly elected President of the French Republic Nicolas Sarkozy, took place the following day. He served as director in many boards such as: AXA; La Poste; Dexia; Schneider Electric; Bouygues Telecom. He sits today on the board of directors of Carrefour where he chairs the Compensation and Benefits Committee. He also is member of Bank of"
"2007 election. On 14 January 2007, Sarkozy was nominated unopposed as the UMP's presidential candidate for the 2007 election. On the issues, the party under Sarkozy publicly disapproved of Turkey's proposed membership in the European Union, which Chirac had previously endorsed several times publicly, and generally took a more right-wing position. On 22 April 2007 Nicolas Sarkozy won the plurality of votes in the first round of the 2007 presidential election. On 6 May he faced the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal in the second round and won, taking 53.06% of the vote. As a consequence, he resigned from the"
"level in 2007 (presidential and legislative), and performed strongly in the 2008 municipal and cantonal elections. In metropolitan France, all incumbent left-wing Presidents are running for a second term in an election which generally favours popular incumbents and anti-government voting. Yet, the left is divided between the PS and Europe Ecology, which performed very strongly in the 2009 European elections. The right, principally the UMP and its allies, were victorious in the 2007 presidential and legislative elections and also in the 2009 European elections. The right is favoured by its unity, notably by its new alliances with Philippe de Villiers'"
"in the cabinet of Jean-Pierre Raffarin. He retained his place in the government in June 2005, after the appointment of Dominique de Villepin as Prime Minister. In May 2007, the new President, Nicolas Sarkozy, suggested he enter the government of François Fillon as Minister of Agriculture, but Gérard Larcher declined and preferred to sit in the Senate. In the following months, he prepared his candidacy for President of the Senate, to succeed Christian Poncelet. On 31 July 2008, he was declared a candidate for the UMP primary to elect the President of the Senate, against former Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin."
"unofficial candidates were proposed. At the final European Council meeting on the treaty in Lisbon, on 19 November 2007, French President Nicolas Sarkozy set off public speculation on candidates by naming Tony Blair, Felipe González and Jean-Claude Juncker, and praising the three as worthy candidates with Blair in particular being a long time front runner for the post. However, he faced large scale opposition for being from a large state outside the eurozone and the Schengen Area as well as being a leader who entered the Iraq War which had split Europe. Minor opposition to other leaders such as Juncker"
"Sarkozy stressed the need for France's modernisation, but also called for national unity, mentioning that Royal was in his thoughts. In that speech, he claimed ""The French have chosen to break with the ideas, habits and behaviour of the past. I will restore the value of work, authority, merit and respect for the nation."" On 6 May 2007, Nicolas Sarkozy became the sixth person to be elected President of the Fifth Republic (which was established in 1958), and the 23rd President in French history. The official transfer of power from Chirac to Sarkozy took place on 16 May at 11:00"
"2007 French legislative election The French legislative elections took place on 10 June and 17 June 2007 to elect the 13th National Assembly of the Fifth Republic, a few weeks after the French presidential election run-off on 6 May. 7,639 candidates stood for 577 seats, including France's overseas possessions. Early first-round results projected a large majority for President Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP and its allies; however, second-round results showed a closer race and a stronger left. Nevertheless, the right retained its majority from 2002 despite losing some 40 seats to the Socialists. Taking place so shortly after the presidential poll, these"
"Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (; born 29 November 1932) is a French politician who served as President of France and ""ex officio"" Co-Prince of Andorra from 1995 to 2007. Chirac previously was Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995. After completing his degree at Sciences Po, a term at Harvard University, and the École nationale d'administration, Chirac began his career as a high-level civil servant, and entered politics shortly after. Chirac occupied various senior positions, including Minister of Agriculture and Minister of the"
"the 2007 presidential election. His challengers were former prime minister Laurent Fabius and Ségolène Royal, the president of the Poitou-Charentes region. Strauss-Kahn finished second, behind Royal. On 13 April 2007, Strauss-Kahn called for an ""anti-Sarkozy front"" between the two rounds of the forthcoming presidential election. Following Ségolène Royal's defeat, Strauss-Kahn criticized the PS's strategy and its chairman, François Hollande. Along with Fabius, he then resigned from the party's national directorate in June 2007. Strauss-Kahn had been widely expected to seek the Socialist nomination for President of France in 2012, and was considered an early favorite. On 10 July 2007, Strauss-Kahn"
"presidency in May 2007. The French government made of Qatar under Hamad's guidance a strategic partner, and the list of partnerships between the two states includes Total, EADS, Technip, Air Liquide, Vinci SA, GDF Suez, and Areva. France was, under the Hamad government, the primary arms supplier to the Emirate. In February 2009, under the Sarkozy government, France accorded special beyond-OCDE investment privileges to Qatar, its ruling family and its State-Owned Enterprises; one example of the privileges is capital gains exemptions in France. The US embassy to Doha claimed, in a cable disclosed in December 2010 by WikiLeaks, that ""Sheikh"